Saturday’s fatal shooting of a police officer comes as the number of shootings and shooting victims is spiking citywide, Police Department statistics indicate.

The number of shooting incidents increased 4.4% to 1,454 as of Sunday. Last year at the same point in the year, there were 1,392. The number of shooting victims increased to 1,744 from 1,679, a 3.8% boost.

Despite the increase in shootings, the number of reported murders dropped to 508 from 542, a 6.2% decrease, for the first 11 1/2 months of the year. Gun arrests rose to 3,126 from 2,853, a 9.5% gain.

An off-duty police officer, Daniel Enchautegui, 28, was gunned down in the Bronx when he went to investigate a burglary at an apartment building next door to his home. The suspects were allegedly looking for Valium after a night out drinking at a local strip club. He was the second police officer to be shot to death this year.

Actor Lillo Brancato Jr., 29, and his friend, Steven Armento, 48, are expected to receive a bedside arraignment on Thursday, the Bronx district attorney’s office said. Armento faces charges of first-degree murder, burglary, and criminal possession of a weapon. Mr. Brancato faces charges of second-degree murder and burglary.

Police officials said the suspects told investigators that they were at the scene at the time of the crime. Armento also admitted that he was the shooter, sources indicated, but said he did not know Enchautegui was a police officer. Mr. Brancato and a neighbor allegedly said they heard the officer identify himself before gunfire erupted.

The suspects are not new to the criminal justice system.

Armento has been arrested 13 times between 1976 and 2004, police said. He was charged most recently on March 6, 2004, by the Westchester district attorney’s office, with assault and for torturing injuring animals. He pleaded guilty this April to both misdemeanor charges. In August he received a 1-year conditional discharge, which is the equivalent of probation, and paid a $500 fine. He could have received one year in jail plus a $1,000 fine for a misdemeanor, the authorities said.

When asked why the judge would have let Armento off with such a light sentence, a spokesman for the Office of Court Administration for New York State Courts, David Bookstaver, said, “The district attorney … is the body that is aware of the body or the strength of the case, not the judge. Judges don’t do investigations. They rely on the district attorney’s recommendation.”

Armento has three prior Westchester convictions, for attempted burglary in 1979, attempted criminal possession of stolen property in 1989, and criminal possession of stolen property in 1996.He had periods of parole supervision upon release from state prison in all three cases, a spokesman for the Division of Parole, Scott Steinhardt, said. His last parole stint was between 1998 and 2000.

Mr. Brancato was arrested in 2004 for criminal possession of marijuana, and in 1994 for criminal mischief, police said. He has three pending cases, according to the Westchester district attorney’s office. On June 8, he was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance; on October 20 and separately on December 8, he was charged with disorderly conduct.